9-foot python found on Marco Island

Landscapers discover a 9-foot python under a Marco home's pool lanai on Thursday and call FWC, Marco police for help.

Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission hold a nine-foot three-inch python that was found in the yard of a Marco Island resident on Thursday, March 11, 2010. This is the first report of a python on Marco Island officials say, but according to FWC Cpt. Jayson Horadam, they have found three in the last two weeks in the surrounding areas, including Rookery Bay. "This is just the tip of the iceberg," Horadam said. An estimated more than 100,000 pythons are spread throughout the area into the Everglades. Greg Kahn/Staff

Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission officer Marc Shea, center, measures a nine-foot three-inch python that was found in the yard of a Marco Island resident on Thursday, March 11, 2010. This is the first report of a python on Marco Island officials say, but according to FWC Cpt. Jayson Horadam, they have found three in the last two weeks in the surrounding areas, including Rookery Bay. "This is just the tip of the iceberg," Horadam said. An estimated more than 100,000 pythons are spread throughout the area into the Everglades. Greg Kahn/Staff

Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission Cpt. Jayson Horadam, center, and officer Marc Shea, left, measure a nine-foot three-inch python that was found in the yard of a Marco Island resident on Thursday, March 11, 2010. This is the first report of a python on Marco Island officials say, but according to Horadam, they have found three in the last two weeks in the surrounding areas, including Rookery Bay. "This is just the tip of the iceberg," Horadam said. An estimated more than 100,000 pythons are spread throughout the area into the Everglades. Greg Kahn/Staff

Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission Cpt. Jayson Horadam, center, stands on a noose holding a nine-foot three-inch python that was found in the yard of a Marco Island resident on Thursday, March 11, 2010. This is the first report of a python on Marco Island officials say, but according to Horadam, they have found three in the last two weeks in the surrounding areas, including Rookery Bay. "This is just the tip of the iceberg," Horadam said. An estimated more than 100,000 pythons are spread throughout the area into the Everglades. Greg Kahn/Staff

A 9-foot Burmese Python was discovered on Marco Island at 831 Buttonwood Court on Thursday, March 11, 2010. The exotic snake was captured by officials with Florida Wildlife Comission and taken back to the FWC facility on Shell Island Road. Greg Kahn/Staff

An FWC officer, who works undercover and requested anonymity, nooses the mean end of the python discovered by landscapers near a Marco Island home's lanai on Thursday.

Submitted Nancy Richie, city environmental specialist

Marco Island Police Department officers assist an FWC officer in measuring the length of a python discovered sticking out of a hole in a lanai's foundation on Thursday. It measured about 9 feet.

Submitted Nancy Richie, city environmental specialist

Landscapers with Sandcastle Landscape Management look on in awe as Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission trappers stretch out a nine-foot python that the pair caught sticking out of a hole in the foundation of a lanai on Buttonwood Court, Marco Island at about noon on Thursday.

Submitted Nancy Richie, City Environmental Specialist

The first python discovered on Marco Island stretches out for some sun as FWC trappers prepare to remove it from a home on Buttonwood Court.

Submitted Nancy Richie, City Environmental Specialist

Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission officer Marc Shea, center, pulls a nine-foot three-inch python that was found in the yard of a Marco Island resident out of a bag to measure on Thursday, March 11, 2010. This is the first report of a python on Marco Island officials say, but according to FWC Cpt. Jayson Horadam, they have found three in the last two weeks in the surrounding areas, including Rookery Bay. "This is just the tip of the iceberg," Horadam said. An estimated more than 100,000 pythons are spread throughout the area into the Everglades. Greg Kahn/Staff